A Wonderful Disaster
by completewithtypos
Summary: What happens when Minerva plans a surprise party for Albus? Everything goes wrong. Or does it? ADMM


A Wonderful Disaster

A/N: I don't own anything, it all belongs to J.K.Rowling, I just want to borrow them. I promise to bring them home safely.

The majority of the Hogwarts staff sat around the table in the staff room, waiting for the meeting to begin. In fact, the only person not there was Albus Dumbledore himself, the topic of the meeting.

"All right, let's begin," Minerva McGonagall said, getting to her feet.

"Why exactly have you called us here?" Severus asked, scowling.

"As you know, or maybe you don't, this Saturday is Albus' birthday, and we are going to throw him a party."

"A party?" Severus said disdainfully.

"But Saturday is tomorrow!" called out Xiomara Hooch.

"Yes Mara," Minerva said as if speaking to a first year, "But we are all very capable witches and wizards, I'm sure we can throw something together."

"You've known about his birthday all year Min, you couldn't have warned us sooner?" Hooch persisted.

"We've all been very busy, and Albus is always around…"

"You forgot, didn't you?"

"Shut up, Mara!" Minerva cried, then as an afterthought, "And don't call me Min!"

Hooch, deciding she had annoyed Minerva enough, sat back in her chair with a Cheshire Cat grin.

"Now then, lets' begin. We'll have the party in here around 8pm tomorrow night. The House Elves will be placed in charge of cake and such, but I'll need volunteers to help with decorations." Minerva said.

Flitwick raised his hand, along with Poppy Pomfrey, Professor Sprout, and Xiomara.

"Severus, what can you do?" Minerva asked.

"I suppose I could make punch. You know how the House Elves can never get it right." He said grudgingly.

"Thank you. And I'll keep Albus away from the staff room all day." She concluded.

Snape snorted, and heard Hooch quickly turn her burst of giggles into a coughing fit. Minerva glanced at them, wondering what was wrong with them, then adjourned the meeting.

The next morning dawned a bright, clear, perfect summer's day. Minerva finished getting ready for the day, and swung open the door to her chambers just as Albus raised his hand to knock.

"Ah, Minerva! Perfect timing, my dear."

"Good morning, Albus. Happy birthday!" she said, stepping forward to embrace her best friend.

"Thank you, Min. It's been quite a nice birthday so far."

'Really, how so?" she asked as she took his arm and they made their way down to breakfast.

"The sun is shining, the students are safely at home, and the first person to wish me a happy birthday is you, my dear."

Minerva felt a faint blush creep into her face at his compliment and she changed the subject.

"Well, my very old friend," she began, grinning at him, "What would you like to do today?"

"Unfortunately, I have some paperwork from the ministry…"

"That can wait until tomorrow," she cut him off. "I won't allow you to work today."

"All right then, after breakfast why don't we take a walk?"

"Where to?"

"Wherever our walk takes us, I suppose."

As promised, after the meal, Albus and Minerva began walking towards the forbidden forest. Minerva stumbled over a root, but Albus caught her, and neither noticed that he never let go of her hand as they continued their walk through the forest. Neither noticed the gray clouds, heavy with rain that come rolling in either, until a large raindrop fell right onto the tip of Albus' crooked nose.

The turned to hurry back to the castle, but had only gone a few steps when the heavens opened and rain poured down on them. Albus gripped Minerva's hand tighter and they began running back towards the castle, laughing the whole way.

Once inside, they went to their respective chambers to change clothes, then Minerva met Albus in his for a cup of tea and a game of chess. As Albus sat across form Minerva, he soon found it hard to concentrate on the pieces in front of him. She has left her hair down, and just like on the few occasions before when she'd kept it loose, Albus found himself lost in how beautiful she was. Trying his hardest to keep his mind on the game, he put up a good fight, but three hours later, she had beat him again.

"Now what?" she asked, glancing quickly at the clock. They still has a few hours before the party.

"How about a game of Exploding Snap?" he asked, thinking he might be able to get her to play since it was his birthday.

"Oh, all right. But only because it isn't every day my best friend officially turns ancient."

Albus laughed. "If I'm ancient, what are you?"

Minerva smiled. "Just slightly over the hill."

They played Exploding Snap for nearly an hour, until Albus has soundly defeated her many times, and Minerva claimed that her nerves were just about shattered from all the loud explosions. They spent the rest of the day chatting quietly by the fire.

At last it was time for the party.

"Come with me." Minerva said, standing.

"Where are we going?" Albus asked her.

"You'll see." He didn't move. "What's the matter, don't you trust me?" she asked, holding out a hand. He stood immediately and took it.

"Of course I trust you. With my life."

She led him down to the staff room, swung open the door and pulled him inside. A dozen voices yelled, "SURPRISE! Happy birthday, Albus!"

Albus stood in the doorway, still holding Minerva's hand which didn't go unnoticed by Hooch, smiling broadly.

"This is wonderful," he said at length. "Thank you all."

"It was Minerva's doing, we just helped where we could," Flitwick chirped as he stood on a chair to light the candles on the cake that dominated the table in the center of the room.

Albus turned to Minerva. "Thank you, my dear." He said softly, kissing her gently on the cheek.

Minerva was thankful that Flitwick chose that moment to light the candles as all the attention turned to him and no one saw her blush. The charms teacher had truly outdone himself. He had charmed the candles so that when lit, they would sing the birthday song, which they did.

_Happy Birthday to you,_

_Happy Birthday to you,_

_Happy Birthday dear Albus,_

And the staff joined in for the last line:

_Happy Birthday to you!_

"Make a wish," Minerva gently reminded him. He did, and blew out the candles. But the candles didn't stop singing. Something had gone wrong with Flitwick's charm. Albus cut the cake and they all ate a piece while trying to figure out how to make the little wax voices stop.

It was at that moment that chaos broke out. Xiomara had set fireworks to go off at 10pm, but they had malfunctioned as well, and were now whizzing about the room. People scattered, most running for the door, and Albus pulled Minerva down behind a chair where they waited out the fireworks display.

When they stopped, the room was silent, until Minerva couldn't control her tears anymore, and she ran from the room. Worried, Albus chased after her and soon found her standing by the lake, sobbing.

"Min," he called softly, coming to stand beside her. "Min, are you hurt?" She shook her head. "Then please darling, tell me what's wrong." He said, not noticing his choice of words.

"Oh, Albus, I've ruined your birthday!"

Albus drew her into his arms. "How have you ruined my birthday?" he asked gently.

"The fireworks, and the candles, the rain, and…I even beat you playing Chess." She said, burying her face against his chest. "I meant to let you win…"

Albus tightened his arms around the distraught witch. "Min dearest, none of that was your fault," he murmured in her ear while his hand traced soothing circles on her back. "The candles were charming, and I've always wondered what would happen if you let off fireworks inside. I haven't run about in the rain since I was a little boy, and it made me feel young again. Finally Minerva, do you know why I refuse to play Chess with anyone but you? It's because you always beat me. I love the challenge you make it for me to win."

He noticed her tears were slowing, so he summoned his Gryffindor courage and added, "And you've even made my wish come true, for I wished to hold you in my arms, though under slightly different circumstances."

"You…what?" she asked softly, lifting her head to look into his eyes.

"Minerva, I love you." He stated simply. He watched as tears filled her eyes again, and he was about to apologize when she threw her arms around his neck and whispered, "I love you, Albus.

Grinning like a fool, Albus picked her up and spun her around as the clouds parted and the moon bathed them in it's pale white glow. "You've made this the most wonderful birthday ever," he said, pressing his lips to hers in a tender first kiss.


End file.
